1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an electrical charger, and more particularly, it concerns an automotive charger capable of providing a charging power via a safe input channel and respective power levels to both a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface and a FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394) interface of an electronic device, such as a personal digital assistant, for example iPod, through a tube fuse arrangement.
2. The Priro Arts
Today's radio cassette player does present a new appearance under the trend of digitalization when it is put together with a personal digital assistant (PDA) to form the known Palm and Hand Held PC, where the USB interface is applied.
The iPod of Apple Computer is more than just a PDA or a radio cassette player. It is a combination thereof for providing music and storing data in an address book, a calendar, etc. Moreover, the iPod also provides built-in games for killing time and “notes reader” function for reading notebook to enable a user to download and read written data. Therefore, a user may store almost everything in the iPod in advance, such as preferred essays, evaluation of restaurants, city map, train's timetable, itinerary map of city bus, nightlife guide, news essays, or procedure for bodybuilding.
However, the iPod, which may be considered one of the best trip-mates, is weakened at the limited capacity of its built-in battery during a long-distance travel. Hence it could be a feasible idea to overcome this imperfection by introducing a proper power source from the vehicle's DC power through a charge coupling of the on-vehicle cigarette lighter.
As it is understood that the power input terminal of the iPod is a FireWire port, which is a port for power input and data transmission conforming with the so-far fastest communication standards according to IEEE, expectable for application in camera of Multi-media equipments or in new-era hard disks and printers. The transmission speed of the FireWire port could be as high as 400 megabits/sec, which is four times of the 100Base-T Ethernet or forty times of the 10Base-T Ethernet.
In addition to high speed and flexible connecting ability for serial connection with as many as 63 equipments, the FireWire interface is advantageous in: (1) No need to shut down the power and reboot during a hot-swapping; and (2) Independent of equipment number, jump, DIP switch, screw, or latch because of the FireWire interface's Plug and Play (PnP) feature. Up to this moment, the standards of FireWire peripheral interface have been readily applied in Digital Video CamCorder, Hard Disk Drive (HDD), and iPod of Apple Computer.
When considering the popularity of the serial products of Apple Computer and Intel/Microsoft inside computer, an automotive common charger through the on-vehicle cigarette lighter for charging and providing power to FireWire/USB interface is obviously valuable.